Stepfather Charged With Killing 3-Year-Old Girl In Queens

FAR ROCKAWAY, QUEENS -- The stepfather of a three-year-old girl has been charged with murder after she was brutally beaten to death inside her family's Queens apartment, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Bella Edwards was found dead at around 6 p.m. on Monday in the Rockaway Park apartment on 105 Street, police said.

Mark Jenkins, her 32-year-old stepfather, was arrested the next day on murder and assault charges, said District Attorney Richard Brown. Jenkins, who called 911 about his stepdaughter, had been the only adult in the home for about eight hours by the time cops found her unconscious, according to the charges.

"This is a terribly disturbing case," Brown said. " The victim here is an innocent little girl, whose body revealed traumatic abuse injuries."

Preliminary autopsy results showed Edwards died from blunt force trauma to her abdomen, Brown said. Medics rushed the toddler to Saint John's Hospital, but doctor's couldn't save her.

Jenkins will be arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on charges of second-degree depraved murder and first-degree depraved assault. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.

A three-month-old baby also under Jenkins' care when Edwards died was removed from the apartment and sent to the hospital for evaluation, cops said.

Administration for Children's Services spokesman Eric Ferraro issued the following statement on Edwards' death:

“Our top priority is protecting the safety and wellbeing of all children in New York City. As soon as this family came to our attention last night, we immediately launched an investigation with the NYPD and we secured the safety of the other child in this home.”

Edwards' mother, Shamika Gonzalez, posted a tribute to her three-year-old daughter on Facebook early Tuesday morning, the New York Daily News reported.

"I'm so sorry I wasn't (there) to protect you," she wrote. "This feels like a bad dream I (can't) wake up from."

Lead photo via Patch.